8702 Beverly Hill St. Houston, Texas 77063 (713) 782-3939
Questions? Contact us
Unified Martial Arts
Taekwon-Do - Judo - Aikido - Kung Fu
Courtesy - Integrity - Perseverance - Self Control - Indomitable Spirit
Van-Binh Self Defense Academy was born out of a simple idea: bringing Grand Master expertise, accessible and affordable education to the entire community. Our combined martial arts approach to skill learning and top quality faculty makes Van-Binh Self Defense Academy one of the best academies in Texas. We invite you to explore our engaging and diverse course schedule, and stop by for a visit at your convenience.
Affordable - Family Focused - Grand Master Expert
AFFORDABLE
We own our property, have no lease and our location is near, but not on a major road. This means we pay less, so you pay less. Why pay higher prices for a leased location on a busy street?
FAMILY FOCUS
Our students are aged 5 to 75 and we even have some entire families that train together. When else does your child get to throw an adult to the floor or safely spar someone larger than themselves? Our training is safe for all ages and our mixed age environment gives children confidence in themselves and their abilities.
GRAND MASTER EXPERTISE
Pioneer Grand Master Van-Binh has been teaching martial arts in Houston since 1975 and in Vietnam since 1956. He is the first 9th degree black belt in the USA and is still the most tenured. There is more about Grand Master on the about page. However, how do you know which school offers the best training? One way, is competitive success. Come count our trophies, you won't find more in Texas.
SAFETY FIRST FACILITY
Our facility is designed with safety in mind. We provide three floor types, each optimal for comfort and safety when learning our three martial art styles. This helps avoid common injuries, like twisted ankles, carpet burns, and jammed toes that occur in locations with only a single unspecialized flooring.
Who should consider martial arts training?
Anyone who wants to reach their maximum physical and mental potential. Children over 6. Women interested in attack prevention. Men interested in weight loss and avoiding heart disease. We have families with parents, children, niece and their young grandson all train together.
You don't have to be a superstar athlete. You do need to persevere and attend regularly. We work with the whole you, accepting both your talents and your limitations. The results may far exceed your expectations!
UNIFIED MARTIAL ARTS
Taekwon-Do - Aikido - Judo
Combining balance, strikes, throws and locks
CLASSES AND COURSES
JUDO
Judo originated in Japan as a derivative of the various martial arts developed and used by the samurai and feudal warrior class over hundreds of years. Today Judo is practiced World-wide and is a competitive Olympic sport. Grand Master Van Binh was an Olympic competitor representing Vietnam in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.
-
Judo does not involve kicking, punching, or striking techniques.
-
Judo does not involve the application of pressure against the joints to throw an opponent.
From a standing position, it involves techniques that allow you to lift and throw your opponents onto their backs. On the ground, it includes techniques that allow you to pin your opponents down to the ground, control them, and apply various chokeholds or joint locks until submission.
Unified Martial Arts was founded by Grand Master Van Binh. With his extensive trainings in Taekwon-Do, Judo, Aikido and Vietnamese Kung Fu, GM Van Binh discovered that no one style is the best. Each style has its strengths and weaknesses. He decided to take the best of each style and unified them to found Unified Martial Arts. Unified Martial Arts help to shorten the required time a person needs to train in order to master useful martial arts styles.
Unlike learning a single martial art, the combination of these styles match the needs of a practical self-defense where attacks will take many different forms from punches, kicks, tackles, holds, shoves, to anything else you can imagine, including attacks with weapons.
Students at VBSDA learn when to use each style effectively, individually or in combination. The combination of styles provides defenders with many options when confronted with an attacker, and especially for children, hitting someone back as a defense is often not the best solution. For example, one can use Taekwon-Do kicks & punches to aggressively defeat an attacker. On the other hand, Judo or Aikido provides alternative methods our students can use to disable an attacker without causing serious harm. Rather than striking an attacker, Aikido and Judo train students to deflect an attacker’s force and use its momentum against him, then disabling him with a wrist or arm lock, or unbalancing the attacker and throwing him to the ground.
Our students typically begin with Taekwon-Do to build a foundation for their martial arts experience, then move into our Aikido and Judo classes for all ages. However, everyone learns at their own pace and we encourage students to explore whichever path works best for them.
TAEKWON-DO
We teach ITF style Taekwon-Do. ITF is a practical version of Taekwon-Do and uses both punches and kicks to defend, counter and spar. Taekwon-Do is similar to the kicking and punching you will see on TV and there is even a version of Taekwon-Do (WTF), Olympic sport, emphasizing more on kicking than punching, which considered by many less practical for self-defense.
AIKIDO
Aikido was developed in Japan during the early 20th century. Martial arts are studied for self-defense and self-improvement, but Aikido is different from other martial arts in that practitioners seek to defend themselves without causing injury to their attackers. Instead of using potentially crippling locks or punches, the practitioner trains to apply various wristlocks, arm pins, or unbalancing throws to neutralize aggressors without serious injury.
GET IN TOUCH
We’d love to hear from you! Feel free to contact us with questions or special requests.
